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Illinois Supreme Court rules in favor of Associations - No excuses to avoid paying assessments The struggling economy and the spike in mortgage foreclosures over the past five years have made collecting funds from unit owners a hot topic with our board members. The process for “treating” a delinquent unit owner has historically been straight forward. Step number one is to issue a demand letter that provides the owner with a period of 30 days in order to pay the entire past due balance. If the debt is not paid within the 30 days the association can proceed with step number...

Special Assessments - An overview for Chicago board members The primary source of income for a condominium association is through the normal monthly assessments paid by the unit owners. These assessments are determined and set one time per year through the adoption of an annual budget. Once the budget has been adopted by the Board, the assessment amounts for each unit are fixed for the year and are not changed. What happens if there are unplanned repairs or other situations where additional funds are needed to support the association? The primary tool at the Board's disposal is a special assessment. A...

Your annual budget calculates the total amount of assessment payments required to support the association’s expenses and savings. Since adopting a new budget typically means an increase to the monthly assessment requirements of your owners, the change can often be met with resistance. It is therefore important to make sure that your board follows all requirements of your association bylaws and the Illinois Condo Act. Some bylaws place a restriction on the total increase to assessments that can be called for by a budget without requiring a majority approval of the unit owners. These restrictions, however, have been abolished by recent...

Chicago bed bug ordinance (2014) For reference purposes the ordinance is attached to this post. Part of the new ordinance is the requirement for all condo associations to prepare and adopt a "pest management plan for the detection, inspection and treatment of bed bugs in the building". The city is required to post a sample plan to their website so that board members can have an idea what this type of plan should look like. The city has yet to post this sample plan so it is not yet possible to adhere to the ordinance.  After all, how would a board...

Section 19 of the Illinois Condominium Act discusses the type of records that the Board must maintain and rules related to what records must be provided to a unit owner upon request. This is a recap of the section of the Act to help clarify what is required. Documents that must be kept by the Board The following must be maintained by the Board or management company: 1) The association's declaration, bylaws, and plats of survey, and all amendments of these. 2) The rules and regulations of the association, if any. 3) If the association is incorporated as a corporation, the...

ILLINOIS CONDOMINIUM PROPERTY ACT Updated through January 1, 2014 This content was taken from the Illinois General Assembly website and may not be the most current version. Title: An Act concerning the ownership in and rights and responsibilities of parties under the condominium form of ownership of property. Section 1. Short title. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Condominium Property Act." Section 2. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) "Declaration" means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of this Act, as hereinafter provided, and such...

Condo Association Board Elections - how to run a proper annual election Our goal for this article is to answer many of the common questions surrounding the election of board members for a condominium association. This is by no means a complete list of questions, but it should provide anyone with a good understanding of how this process should work. As always, if you have questions that were not answered please feel free to email us at blog@connectedmanagement.com. Here is a list of the questions that we’ll answer in this post: At what meeting does the election of board members occur?When...

Sample Meeting minutes & Board member agenda We are making the attached documents available as a reference for board members. You can use these templates as a starting place for crafting meeting minutes and agendas for your association.    Sample Agenda: meeting_agenda_20140309-014852_1.doc Sample Board Meeting MInutes: sample_minutes_20140309-014852_1.doc

Meeting Minutes - An overview for board members Since board meeting attendance is commonly low, how can the board keep the unit ownership up-to-date with the latest board decisions? How can the board prove that a measure, such as a special assessment, was adopted and handled legally?  Meeting Minutes.  Minutes are the written record of a condo association meeting.  The Minutes: Confirm any decisions madeRecord any actions takenRecord who has been assigned a task or responsibilityProvide information and details about the meeting for anyone who could not attend Minutes should provide an unbiased record of what board decisions were made including...

Treatment of Delinquent Owners in Chicago Condominium Associations If your condominium association has unit owners that have become past-due in the payment of their monthly assessments the Board must decide how to proceed. As a board member it is your legal duty to protect the financial health of the condo association. While many board members find this uncomfortable, in some cases this means taking legal action against a delinquent unit owner. This involves using the courts to force repayment of the owner's unpaid assessments. If no action is taken the eventual outcome is almost certainly that the other unit owners will...